Hi Everyone! I'm sorry I have been m.i.a. it's been a rollercoaster the last few weeks... but lol I will get that...I hope everyone is doing well! Unina, and MG, I'm keeping you guys in my thoughts! Hang in there, don't give up hope! Geeky!! How are you? Any updates???I can't wait to hear how things are going!Buffalo and Sunshine, I hope things are going well, I'm back to stalking for updates! Lol!AFM... so I had my follow up from surgery on the 5th, hubs couldn't get off of work so I had to go alone, so the doc checks me, says everything looks good, and will talk to me in the consult room when I'm dressed.... hrmmm... now I'm expecting bad news... anyway once in the consult room he tells me that due to the size of the fibroid I can't do transfer until mid to late March, but that if I'm doing frozen transfer I can start meds for retrieval at the end of Jaunary... ok not so bad... then he goes on to tell me that I have "exceptional numbers" and he expects 10 to 20 eggs from me (ok this sounds good) then... the shoe drops... he says "have you and your husband considered donor sperm?" (Commence heartdrop) I'm speechless, before I can get another word out he says "your husband has a count of only 140,000, which is about as close to infertile as he can get, you guys have done the right thing freezing a sample, but I'm still concerned we may not be able to get enough sperm on retrieval day" In my stunned state I said "level with me doc, my husband's not here, can we get pregnant with his sperm?" He says, yes, it's possible but "your husband has the worst sample I have every seen next to completely infertile" (ugghhh wth??! Nono don't cry) I tell him I don't know if my husband would go for that, he goes on to tell me that we don't necessarily have to use it but it is a good idea to consider it as a backup, so first they will try his fresh sample, then they will have a urologist on standby to do a testicular biopsy (take the sperm right from his testicles) then they will move on to his frozen samples (he reccomends we freeze 2 more) thennn if all of that fails they would move on to the donor sperm... he says it's important to take every measure possible since our insurance caps us at 15,000 and that means maybe only one more retrieval... Anyway, he says to get hubs to the urologist (his appt was 2 days later) freeze another sample, and consider the donor sperm backup plan(how the he'll am I going to have this conversation with hubs??) He also goes on to further say that he doesn't think we need to do pgs, he said he thinks fresh transfer could be an added advantage, and he thinks it's best to transfer 2, with pgs they will only transfer 1. He says based on my egg quality we are at a minimal risk for down syndrome, and anything else my body should "take care of" He says to tall to hubs, consider all these things and then call the office and let our ivf nurse know what we have decided.... sheeshhh... head swimming.... so lol long story longer, I have this tough convo with hubs, he was at first really against the donor sperm, but has come around to the idea of it only being a backup... we went and saw the urologist, and he said there are no structural abnormalities, no vericocele, and his bloodwork combined with his history of the undescended testicle when he was born that there may be a genetic component at play. He thinks Clomid mayyyy help but is not certain as hubs has slightly low testosterone but high lh and day. He switched his vitamins to conceptionXR had him do more bloodwork to see if his last levels were just a "one off" and is doing genetic testing as well, he thinks that is necessary so we know if we could potentially pass a genetic disorder on to our child. We go back for his results on February 26th... so far away... BUT we got some good news that day too! The doc said hubs has really good motility, and he thinks we CAN get pregnant with his sperm!! He said it is likely our fertility doc just wants us to be "over-prepared" but he thinks we will be ok!! He said it's not a bad idea to have it as a backup, but that is our decision to make. So we leave there even more confused lol... DH says on the way home, why don't we find out what the donor process is, how long it will take, and look into it. So we ultimately have decided to not do pgs, try for a fresh transfer (so meds end of Februaryish) get his genetic results and see where his count is then, and make our final decision on donor sperm then (but choose our donor, and have that ready in case we decide to go that route) So anyway, we truly are praying for us to be able make our baby without donor, we so want "our baby" but *sigh* we really want a family... this is maybe our reality so needless to say it's been emotional, but we are gaining strength and coming to terms everyday, we are just gonna take what comes and keep pushing forward.... Any advice or thought from you beautiful ladies is much appreciated... I'm just trying to figure out what is right... was it this hard for you just to get your "plan together" I feel like we are having such a bumpy time and haven't even really "started" lol!!

TTC 10 Years...Me 39 just turned! DH 37Severe Male Factor Getting ready to do our first IVF w/ICSI and PGSGoing through lots of testing right now and just found a large fibroid that needs to be removedCycle delayed because of it. Surgery to remove fibroid scheduled for 12/19fx-ing for Jan/Feb retrieval and transfer Surgery delayed us until MarchStarting stims 3/23!!

Lol couple more things... 1) sorry for the crazy long post!! 2) They have never tested hubs morphology as his count was so low but the urologist ordered a specific morphology test so hubs has a "cup-date" tomorrow... fingers crossed!! 3) I have this nagging thought that if we have the donor sperm option maybe the docs won't try as hard to use hubs sperm, I'm guessing it's harder for the embryologist with such a low count... do you think they won't try as hard if there is that option?? Lol maybe this sounds nuts... I don't know... I could really use some advice, have any of you used donor sperm? Or just have an opinion lol on what I should do here?? Need other thoughts than my own Lol! My head is swimming and I have to make decisions. Anyway thanks for being a sounding board, and I'm so sorry for the insanely long posts Lol! Please forgive!

TTC 10 Years...Me 39 just turned! DH 37Severe Male Factor Getting ready to do our first IVF w/ICSI and PGSGoing through lots of testing right now and just found a large fibroid that needs to be removedCycle delayed because of it. Surgery to remove fibroid scheduled for 12/19fx-ing for Jan/Feb retrieval and transfer Surgery delayed us until MarchStarting stims 3/23!!

Bellami do you have your hubs results if you can lost them? Sorry but 140,000 isn't basically infertile and that's wrong of your doc to even say that, what the hell why would you say that to someone trying so hard?! My hubs numbers were similar, his morphology was like 1-2% so very low and it worked for us, all the embryologist needs is literally one sperm so one out of 140,000!! There are men with literally 10 sperm that ivf works for. We did I SI which will up chances but I would definitely get a second opinion! To be honest that dr sounds very negative and painting a bad picture when in fact the odds of ONE of 140,000 is actually v good!

Thanks Amouna! We are definitely doing icsi, we knew that from the start, all the other docs seemed optimistic but this was the doc that did my surgery... I don't know if he is trying to just make sure we are over prepared or what... hubs count 2 years ago was 200,000, the last 2 within the last 2 months have been between 140,000 and 150,000, his motility was 67 percent, and they never tested morphology because of how low his count was. His urologist ordered a specific morphology test, which hubs has his cup-date for in about a half hour sooo fingers crossed!

TTC 10 Years...Me 39 just turned! DH 37Severe Male Factor Getting ready to do our first IVF w/ICSI and PGSGoing through lots of testing right now and just found a large fibroid that needs to be removedCycle delayed because of it. Surgery to remove fibroid scheduled for 12/19fx-ing for Jan/Feb retrieval and transfer Surgery delayed us until MarchStarting stims 3/23!!

Unina, I’m so sorry I wish you the best in making your decision. Hugs.

Mglupe, I can’t believe this wait for your blood test. I’ll keep checking in for your updates and hope you get a big surprise BFP at the end.

Bellami, wow I am really surprised they recommended donor sperm too. Literally all you need is a few good swimmers for ICSI. If it were me, I would definitely push for using DH’s. I understand your nagging thoughts too.. but I am no doctor so I don’t know the science behind it all. Maybe you could ask the doctor to clarify why specifically 140,000 is maybe not enough for ICSI?

Sunshine, I hope you check in soon with an update!

AFM, I officially graduated from my fertility clinic last week. I had an ultrasound and saw the baby’s heartbeat. Such a crazy emotional experience! I was relieved to see the baby is growing and that this infertility torture is (hopefully) over for me for now, but sad to say goodbye to the nurses and doctor I liked so much. Bittersweet.

Unina - So sorry! Will be thinking of you.Mglupe - Please try to stay positive! I know the wait is so long!Bella- Keep us posted. Stick to your guns and follow your gut!Buffalo- YAY!!

AFM: I also graduated from my fertility clinic today! 8w ultrasound went great. One happy little bean with a heartbeat flickering away at 165 bpm. We are so so thrilled. It was NOT twins, which would have been great, but I'm not upset! Overall the journey was long (it's not over) but I'm thankful for the ability to be able to do IVF and am so happy with the clinic I was at.

sunshinepgh84 wrote:AFM: I also graduated from my fertility clinic today! 8w ultrasound went great. One happy little bean with a heartbeat flickering away at 165 bpm. We are so so thrilled. It was NOT twins, which would have been great, but I'm not upset! Overall the journey was long (it's not over) but I'm thankful for the ability to be able to do IVF and am so happy with the clinic I was at.

Bella, I am so sorry to hear that you are going through such a roller coaster. I agree that ICSI should give you a reasonable chance, if the swimmers are normal, chromosomally. I am sorry that it is taking so long. I can imagine how you feel. As far as supplements go, we were cranked up on Ubiquinol (coQ10 but the one that gets absorbed by the body) and FertilAid for men. DH had a low count in 2016 and we ended up to 10ths of millions a few weeks later, in 2016 and 2017...

AFM : started the cycle to prep for FET. Had my luperon shot sunday and should see AF on the 25th of Jan. Then, appointment, estrogen patches and baby aspirin from CD3 until... We hope for a FET early Feb. I will keep you posted

Hope you are all well, it is so good to hear from the happy mommas to be and from all of you actually Take care!

Geeky!! So exciting!! Please keep the updates coming!! Afm, we have made some decisions... no pgs, annnd no donor sperm, we are gonna make those doctor's earn their buttloads of money Lmao!

TTC 10 Years...Me 39 just turned! DH 37Severe Male Factor Getting ready to do our first IVF w/ICSI and PGSGoing through lots of testing right now and just found a large fibroid that needs to be removedCycle delayed because of it. Surgery to remove fibroid scheduled for 12/19fx-ing for Jan/Feb retrieval and transfer Surgery delayed us until MarchStarting stims 3/23!!